A wireless communication network may include one or more base stations in communication with one or more mobile stations. Each mobile station can be any device that is capable of communication with one or more base stations, and each could take the form of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer (such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, or tablet computer), an e-book reader, or any number of other forms.
The base stations may be networked together and typically include (or are connected to) an antenna. The base stations facilitate wireless communication between the mobile stations and other entities (such as mobile stations). Wireless communication may occur using radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted between the base stations and mobile stations. The wireless communication network could include a radio access network (such as a cellular access network), a wireless local area network, a wireless personal area network, and/or any other network capable of wireless communication.
The total communication capacity of a given base station may be increased by dividing what would otherwise be a single coverage area provided by the base station into two or more coverage areas, each of which may be defined by geographic location, RF carrier frequency (“carrier”), and/or one or more suitable distinguishing characteristics or parameters. For example, the coverage areas provided by a given base station could occupy substantially-non-overlapping geographic regions, each of which could effectively include on more coverage areas by virtue of service being provided by the base station on one or more carriers in that geographic region. A combination of one or more coverage areas may be collectively referred to as a coverage area. As used in the balance of this written description, the term “coverage area” refers to whatever collection of hardware, firmware, software, etc. is used by a base station to provide service on a given carrier in a given geographic region, and is not used hereinafter to refer to just the geographic region.
Communication between a base station and a mobile station typically includes two components: forward-link communication and reverse-link communication. Forward-link communication is communication that originates from a coverage area and is typically intended for a given mobile station. Reverse-link communication, on the other hand, is communication that originates from a given mobile station and is generally intended for a coverage area. In a CDMA network, as one example, each carrier is typically a pair of distinct frequencies—one for the forward link and the other for the reverse link. This approach is known as frequency division duplex (FDD).